Isles rotation begins to form

Young players finding their spots in lineup

Lineups are starting to form in Perry Clark's mind. The Texas A&amp;M-Corpus Christi men's basketball coach has begun to visualize a starting five and various rotations for the first time this season.

At the crux of Clark's lineup conceptualization is a closed-door scrimmage the Islanders played Saturday night against Incarnate Word. Clark tried to give each player equal minutes in a final chance to impress before Friday's exhibition. No one is guaranteed minutes come Friday.

The scrimmage has more of a bearing on the team than ones in the past. Clark is in his first season with A&amp;M-Corpus Christi. He has two returning scholarship players, three holdover walk-ons and 10 new players, eight of those freshmen.

"We came out with a direction as far as a top group we want to start working with and develop heading into the first game," Clark said. "Whenever you have a young team, why do you play this guy 17 minutes and this one 10? I think you have to give reasons and lines of separation so the kids understand it.

"For the first time in my mind, I started looking at starting lineups."

The immediate goal was to get an idea of the first five on the floor. The next objective was to form a rotation of 10 players. Clark said he still doesn't have an exact idea of who will fit in, but some players are beginning to separate.

Clark also feels returning Southland Conference Player of the Year Chris Daniels has a handle on the coach's schemes, but needs to improve his conditioning a bit to get in the flow of the fast-paced offense.

"It's going to be a lot more up and down," Daniels said. "(Former) coach (Ronnie) Arrow was stricter as to what was going on. Coach Clark wants us to take more risks. He's more of a gambler."

Defense is a pressing issue for Clark. He was disappointed in the zone against Incarnate Word, feeling the Islanders gave up easy penetration and didn't shut down the shooters. Man-to-man defense was a letdown, too. It didn't run smoothly, with players missing rotation assignments.

Of course, Clark was not going for cohesion Saturday. There were all sorts of lineups and rotations on the floor. Everybody had playing time, everyone had their chance.

With 10 days until the regular season begins -- and only three days until the final exhibition game -- this could have been the final chance for some to get noticed.

"I told the players that this is not written in stone," Clark said of the rotations he would form for Friday night's exhibition against Pfeiffer (N.C.). "But it is a starting point."